British Culture: An Exercise in Understanding [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Culture is, of course, as the British would say, the most lubricious of terms. It is not so much slippery and a word that can be used in a plethora of different contexts for an infinity of different reasons, as that ultimate definition of the self in a social context. It is a term to be played with but one of fundamental importance. We might be able to joke about the term in some of its manifestations, but it is also the key to understanding. Culture is both the embodiment of what people protect, and the means of communication. We, the readers, accept that culture is a difficult term and in that recognition, at least, create a positive starting point. The term is as palpable and as obvious as language. Language is supposed to define and influence styles of thought. And yet the most inarticulate will recognise differences of habit, gesture and assumption, let alone the more obvious distinctions of speech. Those who enter other languages and cultures need to understand the distincdon between the obvious facts of language, what words mean including labels and grammars and equivalencies, and the real insight into meaning; those easily recognised assumptions that underlie real identity. We might deplore the fact of complex distinctions but the first part of the answer is to recognise them. There is a term 'culture shock' which describes those who try to adapt to people with whom they are negotiating. The term suggests almost insurmountable differences that exclude the possibilities of mutual understanding. That might seem a devastating concept, but the fact is that people are not so much threatened or diminished by the contrast with their own circumstances as longing for connections, longing for all those habits to which they have become accustomed. One consequence of travelling abroad which affects everyone is that it reminds people ofthe culture they left behind; the everyday habits of speech and gesture and styles of behaviour, like queuing. Travelling in the way that English football supporters do, or packaged holiday makers in the south coast of Spain, does not in itself give insights into other people's cultures, but it does remind us of what is familiar. That different cultures exist is obvious, but the problem is that they all overlap. There are many matters that all Europeans have in common, as well as differences. To define one culture, like the 'Bntish', is difficult. Some might suggest it is impossible. There are many definitions of culture and some manifest differences to be established. One is the distincdon between 'high' and 'low' culture. The word culture is often associated with the highest forms of art: the theatre or Shakespeare, the great cathedrals and country houses and the symphonic concerts and operas. For the majority of the British, however, culture is more to do with their own in-